who – Interchange Associates

The beginning of a new way to think about change

Minimalist Intervention originated from a significant shift in our understanding of the nature of change, which was in turn the result of a long scientific quest.

Although its scientific roots go back before the First World War, the quest by Interchange Research began just over half a century ago, in a search to devise a revolutionary new method for analyzing any system to pinpoint—in advance of intervening in it—the smallest intervention into the system that would flip it from the existing state to the desired state and no other, all at once, with nothing in between, and with absolute precision.

Beginning in 1971, that quest worked its way through a wide range of academic fields, from analytical philosophy, psychology and neuroscience to cybernetics and biosemiotics. While the emerging body of radical new scientific theory was first forged and explored within the context of the natural sciences, initially at the University of Oxford, the aim from the start was to generalize the findings and extend them to the behavioral sciences.

Within five years, by 1976, the rudiments of the new change methodology showed remarkable promise. Within another decade, by 1986, Interchange Research had an effective, fully-fledged technology. A client who was one of the first to try it out, a senior marketing executive at a Fortune 50 multinational, named it “minimalist intervention,” and in December of that year Minimalist Intervention was launched.

R&D

At the same time, Interchange Research embarked on a ten-year R&D program to develop the technology, attracting millions of dollars in funding from government and leading multinationals. And Interchange Research worked closely with C-suite executives to trial the approach in action.

In 1988 James Wilk formed a corporation, a sister company to Interchange Research, to commercialize the technology whose development he led. Later that same year he met Alan Engelstad and in 1990 they joined forces as co-founders of Interchange Associates.

James and Alan both had pursued the challenge of deciphering the mechanics of change in human affairs, transforming whole systems through small communications. Alan, with a background in communication studies, had during his graduate work been interested in the possibility of just this when he heard about the work of James and his colleagues in England who, or so it was rumored, were actually doing it, and he crossed the Atlantic to interview James—which is how they met.

Their meeting in 1988 highlighted a shared insight. While spontaneous change is constant, achieving deliberate change is often challenging, and yet Wilk's researches offered a radical, critical rethinking of the problem. Instead of asking, “How do things change?”—a question loaded with philosophical complexities—he focused on a counter-intuitive reversal: “In a world of constant flux, how does any specific thing persist?” This reframing had become foundational for Minimalist Intervention.

Building on this new perspective, Wilk and Engelstad continued to develop the Minimalist Intervention methodology of Interchange Research, working with Interchange Associate's clients to create deliberate change with startling efficiency. From the beginning, this methodology was continuously refined through interaction between theory and practice. This process allowed for consistent improvements, ensuring that Minimalist Intervention could be applied widely—whether in operations improvement, business strategy, or organizational performance.

Above all, Wilk and Engelstad sought to refine the methodology so that a “direct hit” could be achieved virtually every time instead of “more often than not.” What they called a “direct hit” was arriving at a catalytic intervention to create the whole of the desired change within a single four-hour analytical session with the client.

After two decades of study and research, Dr Wilk discovered the answer:

YES! You can find those things in advance.
It doesn't have to be left to chance.

Interchange's commercial success

In 1996 they declared victory, and Interchange began licensing the Minimalist Intervention technology commercially, attracting clients from Europe and the US. The methodology's effectiveness was evident—some clients remained engaged with Interchange for a decade or longer.

Dave Franzetta, an early client while at Prudential Financial, was one of these. He also developed a deep interest in the underlying theory and pursued his studies with James. After retiring from Prudential in 2004, he joined Interchange, bringing his corporate experience, financial expertise, and understanding of the methodology to enhance the firm’s capabilities. He has served as president of Interchange Associates Inc. since 2008.

For over 35 years Interchange has collaborated with CEOs and C-level executives to effectively resolve significant business issues, capture new opportunities, and achieve ambitious goals swiftly and reliably. Clients have successfully deployed MI on major challenges, as well as on eliminating the stubbornly persistent hassles tying up every top executive’s time.

The MI methodology allows for significant changes to be achieved more quickly, precisely, and cost-effectively, with less resistance and financial risk compared to traditional methods. Interchange’s hands-on experience of accelerating corporate growth spans many major business sectors and industries and does not rely on its own industry knowledge. Our expertise lies in creating simple yet powerful executive actions that yield immediate results, transforming complex problems into opportunities for success in a matter of days.

Interchange is not a household name, because it never aspired to be one. Rather, Interchange has felt most comfortable acting as a kind of “secret weapon” for its clients. Nonetheless, the results achieved with and for those clients have been highly significant.

Here are a few examples from among the thousands of minimalist interventions we have designed over the years and seen successfully implemented:

helped a regional financial services company triple its earnings in less than four years through a series of small but powerful executive actions;

co-designed a variety of minimalist interventions for a real estate services operation that grew its earnings thirty-fold over a 7-year period;

worked with a select group of business and governmental leaders in a European country to successfully re-invigorate the national economy with record-breaking results;

worked with a hospital system to dramatically reduce the number of surgical errors in less than two months, with no new training programs required; and

helped the British Olympic Team dramatically improve its performance in the London 2012 Olympics, across 70% of the events.

As Interchange continues to refine and implement the MI approach, and additional practitioners are identified and developed, it is positioned to continue making a meaningful impact on the world in the future.

To delve deeper into the history of Interchange, our accomplishments and the ideas behind the Minimalist Intervention approach, please visit the Interchange Research website.